The Trakia motorway (, ) or Thrace motorway, designated A1, is a

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. It connects the capital city of

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

, the city of

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the ...

and the city of

Burgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a pop ...

on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

coast. The motorway is named after the historical region of

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

, the northern (Bulgarian) part of which it spans from west to east. The total length of Trakia motorway is and the final section opened on 15 July 2013 after 40 years of construction. Trakia motorway connects with the

Sofia ring road The Sofia ring road ( bg, Софийски околовръстен път, ''Sofíyski okolovrásten pat''), also called in Bulgarian Okolovrástnoto shosé (''Околовръстното шосе'', The ring chaussée), often shortened to just ...

at its eаst end, allowing fast access to

Hemus motorway The Hemus motorway (, ) or Haemus motorway, designated A2, is a partially built motorway in Bulgaria. Its planned length is 418 km, of which 191 km are in operation . The motorway in operation is divided into two sections — the first ...

(A2) and

Struma motorway The Struma Motorway (, ) is a motorway currently under construction in Bulgaria. The motorway is located in the Yugozapaden area in South West Bulgaria, and follows the route Sofia-Pernik-Dupnitsa-Blagoevgrad-Sandanski to Kulata on the border wit ...

(A3) via Sofia Northern Bypass motorway (part of Europe motorway, A6). At its east end, nearby

, Trakia motorway will merge with the planned

Cherno More motorway The Cherno More motorway or the Black Sea motorway (, ) is a Bulgarian motorway planned to link the major coastal cities of Varna, Bulgaria, Varna and Burgas, passing along the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. It is part of the Pan-European Corridor VI ...

(A5) providing fast access from the south to the city of Varna and the beach resorts on the

. Maritsa motorway (A4) branches off at Orizovo Interchange at kilometer 169 to link Trakia motorway with

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

at the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing. The interchange is situated between

and

Chirpan Chirpan ( bg, Чирпан, ) is a town on the Tekirska River in Stara Zagora Province of south-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Chirpan Municipality. As of 2021, the town had a population of 13,391 down fro ...

, roughly 5 km north of Parvomay.

History

The construction of the motorway began in 1973 and the first 10 km from Sofia to Novi Han entered in service in 1978. In 1984 the motorway reached

, the second largest city in Bulgaria. In 1995 a 32 km section between Plovdiv and Plodovitovo interchange was completed with

EBRD The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially foc ...

co-financing. In 2000 EIB loan was secured for the construction of two sections, between Orizovo interchange and

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora ( bg, Стара Загора, ) is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province. Name The name comes from the Slavic root ''star'' ("old") and the name of the medieva ...

(lot 1), and lot 5, between

Karnobat Karnobat ( bg, Карнобат ) is a town in the Burgas Province, Southeastern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Karnobat Municipality. According to the 2021 census, the town has a population of 16,483 inhabitants.h ...

and

, fourth largest city, situated at the Black sea coast. The motorway reached Stara Zagora in 2007, and lot 5 entered in service in 2006. Meanwhile, in 2005 a controversial concession contract was signed by the Bulgarian government and a Portuguese-led consortium. The concession was granted for 35 years without tender procedure and included 433 km from the Serbian border, at Kalotina border checkpoint, to Burgas. However, the contract was cancelled in 2008 and the sections between Stara Zagora and Karnobat (lots 2, 3 and 4) were approved for EU funds financing. In 2009 and 2010, tenders for the construction of Stara Zagora - Nova Zagora, Nova Zagora - Yambol-west interchange, and Yambol-west interchange - Karnobat sections, totalling 116.8 km, were conducted and contracts were signed. The sections between Stara Zagora and Yambol-east interchange opened to traffic in mid-2012, while the last remaining section between Yambol-east interchange and Karnobat interchange was completed on 15 July 2013. Trakia mw en

Exits

Gallery

File:Trakia highway near to Nova Zagora.jpg, Trakia motorway near

Nova Zagora Nova Zagora ( bg, Нова Загора ) is a town located in the southeastern plains of Bulgaria in Sliven Province. It is the administrative centre of Nova Zagora Municipality. As of December 2009, the town had a population of 19,562 inhabit ...

File:Trakiya highway 05.jpg, Trakia motorway near the village of Vakarel File:Magistrala-Trakia-pri-Vakarel.jpg, Trakia motorway at Vakarel-

Panagyurishte Panagyurishte ( bg, Панагюрище, also transliterated ''Panagjurište'', ) is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, situated in a small valley in the Sredna Gora mountains. It is 91 km east of Sofia, 43 km north of P ...

junction File:Magistrala Trakia.jpg, Trakia motorway near

References

{{coord missing, Bulgaria Motorways in Bulgaria Transport infrastructure completed in 2013 Pan-European Corridor VIII